Regardless if the relationship is positive or negative, all must have an air of authenticity to them. No forced relationship compares to a realistic one. Just like a character must be well-developed, so should the bond he or she shares with another. A good way to test the bond between two characters is to put something at stake. I once tried it with my own two characters, Elliot and Rashida. He is burning down his childhood home in hopes that it will get rid of the spirit that threatens to take everything away from him. In this scene he is recklessly angry, pouring gasoline over everything, while Rashida is in hysterics because she can’t get through to him that there has to be another way to fight this without going to extremes. Throw in some gasoline on the walls and their clothing and a currently unlit match and I’ve just exposed another side of their relationship I’d never dived into.
I can’t think of a single story that included a lone character. No matter the genre, the main character always has some sort of interactions with other people/animals/beings. Those who the main interacts with regularly build relationships to strengthen their bond. Relationships don’t always have to be romantic. There can be platonic and familial, and don’t forget the aggressor and the victim or the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist. Foe or ally, main or secondary, the relationships built between characters in a story are central to it.
For relationships, the good ‘ole ‘show don’t tell’ is an important skill to master. Think about your own relationships for a second. In my own romantic one, my partner and I prefer to do something without telling that we did it. For example, I knew he wanted to see Us just as much as I did, so I asked him what time he wanted to see it on opening day and then bought the tickets. If I would have bought them and told him “Oh hey, I bought tickets to the movie,” it wouldn’t have been as thoughtful. The latter would have been demanding recognition whereas the first was done just because I cared.
Make the relationship between your characters more realistic by taking the time to dig deeper into their flaws. No one’s relationship is completely transparent and perfect. We all fight and argue with the people we love. I am notorious for it to. With my characters Denver and Constance, I’d never even written a scene where they were upset with one another. That changed the day they were placed in an elevator going down to the floor where a coworker’s wedding was taking place. Randomly Constance admits to proposing to Denver shortly after she suffers a miscarriage. The gesture was not out of love, but to compensate for the fact that she almost had his child. A foolish act he kept to himself until that day.
If you didn’t figure it out by now, the theme for this month’s box is writing relationships. This also happened to be the one year anniversary for GoScribbler, so they packed it with some writer goodies that can serve multiple uses.
The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros (bookmark & autograph included)
Night notes mini notebook
Writing Relationships passport
Inside look at Rebecca Yarros’ publishing process
Invitation to chat with the CEO of Entangled
Like before, the passport is my favorite item. The focus on a single writing component allows me the opportunity to dedicate my time to strengthening a specific part of my writing. The knowledge presented in the essays is always enlightening and encourages me to go beyond the information provided with an exercise to try out. The Inside Look always reminds me that my wacky ways of keeping notes on my characters isn’t so abnormal at all. I’m trying to be more responsible with my note-taking for creative writing instead of always winging it and then forgetting details that could have been useful if they’d been stored somewhere for later use. Seeing the way others organize their ideas gives me inspiration on how I should do the same with mine. I adore the small pencil case that was included, too. I always carry a small notebook and pens to work with me in case an idea strikes. I’ve always just thrown them into my bag and have lost countless pens this way. (And we know G2 Pilot pens ain’t cheap) Now with a small case to carry my utensils in, I’ll actually take more care of them.
Go Scribbler boxes are delivered at the end of a month, therefore I’ll take this last week to work on the relationships between my primary characters. Instead of creating brand new material, I will work from previously written scenes and determine how I can fix them to convey the strength of the bond between the written characters. I won’t be reading the book included in the box because two of my books for April are rooted in relationships, so I can instead study the authors’ work.
I’ve said it before, but will repeat it for good. I will not be purchasing Go Scribbler boxes for now on. Price wise, I do not benefit from them in the way I hoped. I will instead pick 2-3 items from the online store and include those instead. This writing process part of the blog is a work in progress and with each one I will continue to get better and find a rhythm that works especially well for what I am capable of.
